Joy had her 2-month check up today.  Good news–she is very happy.  The doctor says we are doing a really good job taking care of her.  Her body is good, her skin is good, her development is good.  And, she’s huge!  I knew she was big, but I didn’t realize how big.  She is 15.2 pounds!  The doc says that she’s in the 99th percentile for size of girls her age.  Crazy!  That averages to about a pound a week.  She’s already wearing her 3-6 months size of clothes, too.   She’s going to be an Amazon!

Today, Joy talked for the first time!  Well, sort of.  She was acting super-hungry, I started getting ready to feed her, and she said, “gong-goo,” which obviously means “thank you” or maybe even “I love you” (both very appropriate things to say right before getting fed).  I smiled at her, she smiled back and repeated, “gong-goo.”

I was so excited about it, I told a friend of mine who happens to be a child development expert.  She told me I was being very silly.  Maybe she’s right, or maybe I have an extraordinarily smart AND polite baby!  

Today, Joy and I had a very nice little chat.  She said “Gaaaahhh”, I repeated her, she said it again, and then I started talking to her about how amazing she is.  As I was talking, she studied my lips and moved her lips silently.  She hasn’t figured out the whole talking business yet, but she’s getting there!!!

As I was writing, she just now made the sound, “ooooooooh!”

Joy drank a whole bottle today.  Good job, Joy and Brian!!

Today, Joy tried drinking breast milk out of a bottle for the first time.  It was a bit of a rocky start, but she did drink a little.

For the first time today, Joy actually sat through me reading some books to her.  I read a few kids books that I have (including “Where the Wild Things Are”) and she quietly sat, listened, and looked at the pictures.  Every day now, her quiet and alert times are getting longer, and it is so exciting!  We can start doing more fun things now!

Today, Joy took the second step towards speech (the first was by making noises that meant different things).  She looked at me, smiled, and said, “gaaaahhhhh.”  I smiled and imitated it back to her, and she did it back to me again.  She smiled, and furrowed her brow, changed the shape of her mouth, and made a sound more like, “go–aahhhh.”  It seemed obvious to me that she was concentrating on trying to vary her sound.  That’s pretty cool.  Such a smart little gemini!

So, Joy is more and more frequently laughing in her sleep. When it happens, she gets this really big smile on her face and out comes this sound that sounds like laughter to me. Brian’s heard it too, and I think he thinks I’m looney, but I swear, it’s laughter.

When she’s awake, she’s not quite there with the laughing yet. But, she’ll get a big old smile and do this weird high-pitched squeal thing. If I wasn’t looking at her face when she did it, I’d think she was in pain, but the smile makes it hard to believe it’s an unhappy sound. I think she is trying to laugh, sort of, but is just better at doing it in her sleep than awake.

Anyway, one of these days I’ll get another witness on this. But, take it from me folks, she is laughing!

It has now been established that I am more of a freeze baby than Joy is. She feels comfortable at cooler temperatures than I do, and overheats more easily. That’s crazy! Gone are the pregnancy days where my brain shut down at temperatures over 60. Back to lovin’ the heat (unfortunately for Brian, since he does like it cold).

I weekly baby e-mail I get recommends that at this age, I play with the baby’s hands a lot, to help her learn that she does have hands. One idea was to take her hands and wave them in front of her face. In theory, because she feels them move at the same time as she sees them move, she learns they are hers.

So, during one of her brief awake and alert times today, I did the famous Karate Kid “Wax On, Wax Off” with her. I wasn’t sure if she was paying attention, but a few seconds after I let go of her hands, one of them continued with the “Wax Off” for a few circles. Is this a coincidence, or is she actually learning? I can’t really be sure. But I do think she is one amazing kid!!! Soon she will be kicking the other kids’ asses with the implausable Crane move!